


An Evening In

by Fabrisse



Category: Enchanted (2007)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 05:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2761103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabrisse/pseuds/Fabrisse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A couple of years into her marriage, Giselle thinks about the early days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Evening In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hikario](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hikario/gifts).



Giselle gave a contented sigh as she sat down on the sofa. Robert had a big case at work. He would be working late -- maybe even weekends -- for the next four weeks or so, and then they were taking a major vacation in Europe. Morgan would be with them for the first two weeks and then she’d go home to stay with her grandparents while Giselle and Robert had two weeks alone. It was the first time since their honeymoon, and they were both looking forward to it.

Tonight, though, she was happy to be alone. She sipped a glass of wine and pulled out one of her old journals to remember.

***  
It was all well and good to have a perfect true love’s kiss and then skip ahead to the weddings. The truth was, as always, more complicated.

About a week after Nancy had gone off with Prince Edward, the police showed up at Robert’s door. Giselle found them asking questions when she brought Morgan home from school. Two days after that, they’d arrested him for suspected murder. 

Morgan found Nancy’s number in her father’s phone and Giselle called. It kept going through to voicemail (they later found out that they’d called during Nancy and Edward’s wedding.). Once Nancy finally repaired her phone and checked messages, she came back to New York for a few days to clear everything up. She told her business that she was moving to Nepal to meditate,told the police that she’d been at an ashram for the past three weeks and hadn’t realized they’d arrested Robert, and took Giselle out for a little girl talk.

She’d been shocked to find out that Prince Edward was a virgin on their wedding night, and Nancy did her best to make certain Giselle was prepared for what came after “true love’s kiss” -- something for which Giselle was forever thankful. It could have been quite a shock.

They also established that Giselle had the imagination to run a business. Over martinis (Giselle remembered insisting that they couldn’t be apple), they worked out a plan for Giselle to take over Nancy’s design shop and pay her for it over time. As they left the restaurant, with a very detailed napkin contract, Nancy gave Giselle three gifts. The first was an intensive computer course, so she wouldn’t get eaten alive by Nigerian princes. The second was a year’s membership to a yoga and Pilates studio near Robert’s apartment. And the third was a blank book.

“Look, you can put anything you like in there: drawings, stories, shopping lists. Or nothing at all, but I’ve usually found that keeping a journal helps me figure out the answers to my questions.”

At first, Giselle just drew her collection, but after the wedding, she found herself another blank book and started writing out her thoughts and feelings. And about a month after that, she bought a third one, slightly smaller with lined pages, where she put her questions about the world. Some of the questions she asked Google, which, in her opinion, was better than any magic mirror. But once a week, she sat down with Robert and asked him about things she saw and heard which confused her. Her very first question had been “When can I meet the ruler of this fair land?”

Robert thought for a few minutes and said, “The firm donated a lot of money to the new Mayor’s campaign. I’ll make sure we’re on the list for his Inaugural Ball.”

One week, he taught her every swear word he knew, just so she wouldn’t have to ask him again -- or use them if she didn’t mean to. Another time, her questions led the whole family to start a charity project. Robert took it further by increasing the _pro bono_ work at his firm, and Morgan got everyone in her class to trick or treat for UNICEF.

For Giselle’s part, it was hard to think of something individual to do to help. Her design shop was making good money, especially for the wedding market (and thanks to Nancy’s computer present, she was good at keeping the books, too). But she didn’t want just to give money, she wanted to give something from her heart.

So, on a Friday when Morgan was having dinner with a friend and Robert was working late before taking a four day weekend, Giselle had sat down with a homeless woman, opened her book of questions and asked her what she needed.

They talked for two hours, and if she hadn’t had to pick up Morgan from her friend’s house, they might have talked longer. 

Giselle used her Google skills, talked to a few people in city government (now that she knew the Mayor), and talked to the women at her shop. The first thing she did was raise their wages. After that, she put together a program for homeless women to teach them seamstress skills. Their final projects were to make a suit or dress appropriate for a job interview. It was small, but it made a big difference to these women who needed a hand to get back on their feet.

She closed that notebook and opened the next. 

Her relationship with Morgan was different now; her step-daughter was growing up quickly. This notebook had so many entries from their first year together as a family. She smiled as she thought back on so much joy and delight. She turned the page and came across her very detailed, somewhat fraught, entry about her first Parent-Teacher conference. It would have been easier if Robert hadn’t had to go out of town for a deposition. He was very good at explaining new experiences, and Morgan wasn’t allowed to come to the meeting. The teacher had confused Giselle with her assumptions about what kind of childhood she’d had. Giselle finally said that she’d grown up in another country, but she knew Mrs. Strauss had always looked at her funny after that.

The sound of the key in the door made her close her book. Robert came in.

“I thought you were gone for the whole weekend?” She threw her arms around him.

He spun her around and kissed her. “So did I, but the opposing attorney called the judge to get permission to postpone, and I took the next flight back to New York.” He kissed her again. “I also called Marka’s mother from the airport. Morgan will be staying the night.”

“Well, then, let’s have some grown-up fun.”

As he embraced her, she thought, “Yes, this is definitely my true love’s kiss.”


End file.
